Natural Plant Dyeing

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Cojltiuued frow page 24
c
Asi’s ‘o-&i breasts ached tith the nuzzling
of the- roots be&use her spirit was there
inside the sa&ed roots.
When the roots had drunk their fill and
we ready to sleep, Asi> spirit rose and
en f-% d the body of a teda bird dancing
in the air before her: The ,veda is a ,blue
so bright it is a hurting, a lovely hurting
to the eyes. It dances in one spot in the
air when it is ready to mate. It was from
floundering. in the sky wh&e the Iblue
rubbed off on its body that the redn
became t.his trembling, beautiful blue.
0nc.e again. the xoman Asi became jeall
ous of possessing this color, blue. She
shook herself to try to rid her longing for
color. Perhaps if she asked for the blue
for all the ~~oplc. not just for hcrsclf. . . . i
When Asi awoke, her head throbbed
and she knew’she had been drunk with
sky. The forest no longer smelled sweet.
Xo birds sang. In her nostrils was the
stench of burned rice; she had spoiled the
sacrifice she had come to make. The sun
was low in thr’ sky. Fear nt_e nt Asi when
she turned her aching head to look to her’
child. The baby had rolled o’ff the Zappa
and xas lying face down,pn ‘the earth.
Something strange about the lappa
caught, Asi’s eye; there seas. a blue patch
of color in the. center where the bab;\
had wet. One small patch of deep blue in
the dead expanse of ‘white. Asi did not
stop to finger the lippa. She rose to her
feet as quickly as she could get her joints
togethrr and ran to her baby. When she.
turned. the child over, no breath came
l’rottr its mouth.
Asi rose and added the rice-to the water ’ :\si’s baby was dead. This was the
in the pot tvhich Imti hc~:un to boil. She l)ur~ishrtlcnt for bringing scllfish %liou$its
-xas calmer now. and not so afraid since to that holy place. In a frenzy of grief
she had decided to iuake a- begging for :Isi r:tn to the fire, now dead ashes, and
blue to come dovxr to all the people of : loosened her hair to receive the grime of
Foya Kamara. She sag that her baby was
asleep on the white lappa. Asi was free to
,,,e:lt ,just nne more bit of sky while the rice
the ashes as is the custom with komen in
mourning. Tears streamed down her face,
streaking the ashes she had piled on her
/
1’
I cooked. She would then leave her begging
for blur along with some rice on the altar
head. Asi clutched her child ‘to her, the
wrapped the lifeless body in the In d u
and go home before the forest was dark. which was her , own skirt. Her P ody
/’ _.
THIS recipe-,for indigo has bein su,pp!ied by The Mannings, East Berlin, Penn-
sylvania. The ingredients are: l/2 oz. +digo powder, lioz. sat sodo (washing
soda’), 2 oz. sodium hydrosulfite, 1 qt. warm water. .
Put indigo powder in a small enameh,saucepan. Add a little warm water
and stir to a pastk. Put sal sod&in a measured jar. -Add 4 oz. cold water,
and stir until the sal soda is thoroughly dissolved. (+ s
Add 2 l/z oz.’ of the fluid sal soda to .the indigo paste in the saucepan. Stir
and then shake in 1 oz. of.sodium hydrosulfith, Add 1 qt.. of warm water and
heat to 130” F stirring gently. The liquid should show yellow or yellowish
green when held to the light. Let stand for 20 minutes’ and then the dye is
ready to be used.
Shake 1 oz. of sodium hydrosulfite over the,.surface to render harmless any
undissolved oxygen. Enter wet skeins of wool in the dyebath for a few set- :
onds. They should be yellowish-green when lifted from the bath and will turn
blue as they are exposed to the air. Let dry and then rinse. Repeated dippings
will give deeper color.-Palmy Weigle
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